uSwitch Mobiles

AppBlaster iPhone augmented reality gun blasts aliens out of thin air

Gaming is no stranger to wacky peripherals. From Nintendo’s Power Glove to the Konami Laserscope, we’ve seen it all. Now the iPhone has joined consoles with a crazy add-on of its own dubbed AppBlaster.

Essentially, it’s a plastic gun that looks and feels more like a knock-off Super Soaker than a real firearm. It doesn’t physically shoot anything either, because that’s where the iPhone comes in.

Mounted horizontally on top of the gun’s barrel, the iPhone acts a sort of iron sight when used with an augmented reality title called Alien Attack that overlays floating aliens on the screen using your actual environment as the backdrop as seen through the phone’s camera.

There are two triggers, allowing you to grip and shoot with both hands. Pulling them makes a pair of soft pivot-y thingamajigs on top of the gun make contact with the iPhone’s screen, thus causing it to fire laser beams at aliens the gun is aimed at.

There’s also accelerometer support, which means you can look extra badass by tilting the gun back to reload.

We have to admit, we rather like the concept. It’s a neat design and at £20 a pop, it’s not that pricey either. Not unless you don’t have an iPhone 4, too, of course.

Alien Attack itself is free to download right now from App Store. A full version of the title will be released on July 6th.

AppBlaster will be available to purchase at Red5.co.uk and Selfridges. See it in action in the video below.

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